Permutation City Blog

While The Simpsons was funny Futurama is funny and geeky. It follows the lives of a bunch of misfits in the year 3000. Any science-fiction cliche you care to mention can be seen and is probably made fun of. Take your pick of favourite characters; they all have great moments. There are so many good episodes the only quick recommendation is to watch them all. The very last episode is one of my favourites; a lovely way to bow out.

This has Godfrey's familiar wobbly animation and is good fun is small doses. Henry's Cat gets up to all sorts of different adventures. Plots often involve copying things off the telly or having strange dreams. Don't worry it'll all be alright in the end with jellybean sandwich for tea. If only I could find the episode with The Fabulous Flying Carrot'.

The first series parodies old schools and colleges shows. All the science is presented in a serious manner but even if it starts sensibly it soon goes off the rails and into the world of the bizarre. It can be slow at times but it's funny, in a strange way, and each episode is very short. The second series parodies Tomorrow's World. This was a great disappointment to me after the first show. It's just not as good... well not even good. The half hour format was too long and the presenters were annoying. While the first series was bizarrely good this just seemed stupid.

Invader Zim was a nice surprise from recent years. It's all over the top and filled with cliched science-fiction devices that just aren't quite right. I don't know how far Zim ever gets in taking over the Earth as most of his time seems to be spent battling the kid, Dib.